Safeway sells Queen Anne redevelopment site to Gables Residential

As reported in the Registry, Safeway sold its property at 2100 Queen Anne Ave. N. for $30.1 million, to Atlanta-based Gables Residential, a national apartment investor with more than 31,000 units under management. 

In February of 2021, a development team composed of Cahill Equities, Hewitt, barrientosRyan, Safeway, and Runberg Architecture Group completed a years-long design review process to redevelop the property into a seven-story mixed-use building.

The 474,000 square foot project would include 324 residential units, 323 parking stalls on two sub-grade levels, and a new, 50,0000 square foot Safeway at ground level. A 2,000 square foot plaza is also planned.  The apartment unit mix is 68 studios, 109 1-bedrooms, 54 two-bedrooms, 84 open 1-bedrooms, and nine townhomes.WG Clark is listed as the contractor in the City's Design Review materials.

The project received a Master Use Permit in October 2021, and building permit applications are under review. The site was last redeveloped in 1962 and currently has an operational Safeway store and parking lot. 

As noted in a recent article in Publicola entitled, "Is it time for Seattle to do away with design review?", the project has become "notorious for its delays and finicky debates over aesthetic concerns," which led to months-long delays and hundreds of thousands of dollars of increased costs.